Sammy and his family currently live in Ontario, Oregon where he is the Integrated Science instructor at Treasure Valley Community College. Originally from South Dakota, he stumbled upon Cascadia through receiving his Master’s at the University of Oregon. Bioregionalism has interested Sammy for many years and is what led him to follow the development of CascadiaNow! movement over the years, even after taking his first teaching job across the country at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Having returned to the Cascadia region around a year ago, Sammy jumped at the opportunity to become a founding member of CascadiaNow! and take on a more active role by enthusiastically educating others about bioregionalism and seeking collaboration with other local groups to create a positive impact on the southeastern Cascadia community and beyond.

He believes that Cascadia is a model for the future. A shift to a Bioregional-oriented mindset of culture, trade, economy, and community is underway and will prove to be the most resilient model of co-habitation with each other and the environment. The movement, and CN!'s place within that movement, is important to define that shift. Pockets of people all over the nation are starting to place more emphasis on local within the context of the culture, trade, and economy. We, as a society, forge our way forward into a more sustainable future, it is this concept that will prove the key.